Other forms: dispossessed, dispossessing
To dispossess is to take somebody's property or land away. Dispossessed of their land, dispossess the tenants, the dispossessed.
The participle used as a noun, the dispossessed, names a whole class of people and carries the weight of every land clearance and eviction. In football it simply means to take the ball from an opponent.
1verbdispossessTo take somebody's property or land away.
“The new law dispossessed thousands of farmers of the land their families had worked for generations.”
dispossess is a taking.
Middle French despossesser is des-, undoing, plus posseder, to possess.
Middle French
despossesser
English, today
dispossess
From Middle English, from Middle French despossesser. Equivalent to dis + possess.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA